Monday 11/12 A.M. Quickie:NFL, BCS, Heisman, MLB Awards, More!

NFL Roundup: OK, so of COURSE Adrian Peterson had to have a terrible injury-plagued game following last week's jaw-dropper. That's just how things are supposed to work, aren't they? Doesn't mean that he's not the best RB in the NFL -- just means that he's a rookie. (And maybe fragile: More Billy Sims than Eric Dickerson.)

Pack wins (again): Over the last half-decade, I've been pretty rough on Brett Favre. But I'm the first to say: Wow. This is a hell of a season he's having, both individually and leading the team to unexpected success (even the most optimistic Packers fan couldn't have thought it would be THIS good).

So the Cowboys very well could be the best team in the NFC, but this season, with a resounding loss in Dallas to the Patriots already in the books, does that mean anything? (As long as the NFC is a sacrificial lamb in the Super Bowl this year, I'd rather see the Packers make it.)

Chargers hold on against Colts on Sunday Night: Peyton was picked six times. Wow. And the Chargers built a 23-0 lead. Wow. And San Diego was wearing those dazzling powder-blue jerseys. Wow. And yet, they still almost blew the game. Wow.

NFL Milestones: Fred Taylor reaches the 10,000-yard mark, still without a Pro Bowl appearance. Is he a Hall of Famer? Is he destined to be the Art Monk of running backs?

CFB Weekend Wrap: Who's the idiot who took the under on the Navy-North Texas game?... Congrats to Colt Brennan for breaking the NCAA's all-time record for TD passes... I am no Mark Richt fan, but his decision to go with the black unis was inspired...

CFB BCS Update: LSU is No. 1. Oregon is No. 2. Kansas is No. 3. But the computers have Kansas ahead of Oregon, which means that the survivor of the Big 12 three-way has a great shot at jumping into the Top 2.

BlogPoll: I have Kansas at No. 1, followed by LSU at No. 2, Oregon at No. 3 and the Big 12 one-loss posse of Oklahoma and Mizzou at 4 and 5. I gave KU the final push because they finally silenced doubters who claimed they haven't beaten anyone. LSU gets a nod over Oregon because (1) Oregon was idle (sorry), and (2) because LSU's loss was on the road in multiple OTs to an insanely hot team, while Oregon lost at home (and Cal is even more of a disappointment since that win than Kentucky has been since the win over LSU). Meanwhile, Oregon is in trouble if you look down the road at what's brewing in the BCS rankings. See my Deadspin CFB post later today for more.

Heisman Watch: Believe it or not, I have hesitated to put Tim Tebow at the top of the list all season long. He's certainly valuable and is arguably among the best players in the country, but I stopped short because the Gators aren't a championship contender.

But Tewow's performance on Saturday (7 TDs, 424 total yards) won me over. As loaded as the Gators are, there isn't a more valuable player to his team, and while "best" or "most talented" is certainly debatable, Tebow is in that conversation, too. Good enough for me.

NBA Update: Hmm, who else let Brandon Roy (career-high 32 in a Blazers W over Dallas) slip by in their fantasy drafts?... Same could be said for Leandro Barbosa: Might not get you anything more than points, but boy can he rack up the points... The Celtics are even better than people thought; the Bulls are way worse...

CBB Update: Guess what? OJ Mayo ain't all that, if winning matters over style. If people thought his mere presence at USC would turn the Trojans into contenders, they were sadly mistaken. USC lost to mighty Mercer in Mayo's debut. He did have 32 points, and looks every bit like the real deal. But, like Kevin Durant a year ago, he is a spectacular talent unlikely to carry his team particularly far in March. (However, I may have to add Mayo to my preseason All-America team: Derrick Rose, Chris Lofton, Tyler Hansbrough, Stephen Curry and OJ Mayo. Does that look right?)

MLB Awards Season: Today is Rookie of the Year. In the AL, the winner is expected to be Dustin Pedroia (which would be more obvious if they allowed voters to factor in the postseason), with Delmon Young a strong second.

The NL is a wild debate: Ryan Braun vs. Troy Tulowitzki, both of whom established themselves as two of the best young players at their positions in the game. You know I'm partial to Braun because "NL Rookie of the Year is also Jewish" isn't a phrase you hear particularly often. That said, as the Rockies surged, I found myself increasingly impressed with Tulo. I would prefer a tie, but if I had to pick one...

Yikes: To be honest, I really can't decide, which given the lead I gave Braun all the way into September, should probably indicate that Tulowitzki surged ahead in Game 163, much like Matt Holliday did over Jimmy Rollins for NL MVP.

67 comments:

Please stop the Tim Tebow love for the Heisman. He is going to win one it is just not happening this year. I know that you have been a Gators fan for such a long time and probably remember the days of Wuerffel, Dean, Johnson, etc. But please enough with thinking that everytime Florida wins and Tebow has a great day that he vaults back to the top of your Heisman list.

If by well thought out he means, blatant Leitch nut-hugging with intentionally overstated arguments like "THE leading voice of the sports fan today", then yes Dan...congratulations, you've written one of the top blog posts of the year.

I think it says something about the blogosphere's credibility when one of the top posts of the year is a fairytale by an unemployed guy, trying to woo his new found love.

Crummy football weekend here in Detroit. Michigan lost the most meaningless late season game I can ever remember and Lions blew a week full of good feelings by laying a complete egg against the Cardinals. -18 yards rushing!

Still not sure Kansas has beaten anyone. Not like Oklahoma State is very good. When your big test is a 5-4 team... I mean come on. Although I don't think LSU is the #1 team in the country so I guess Kansas can be up there for a week.

But hey, maybe this "top 20 blog stories of the year" should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, the guy who wrote it has only been around for 3 months. At least with so called "old-fashioned journalism", gaining stature requires a journalist to pour his heart and soul into his work. In the blogosphere, all it takes is a "top bloggers ranking" or "top blog stories" to become an instant VET. Hell, some random girls put out a "hot blogger bracket" and suddenly according to Dan Shanoff their work is awe-inspiring.

Does that mean you are going to give Richt some love in the Coach of the Year blog?

It is going to be fun to see how the next few weeks shake out. I tend to agree that it is going to be a Big 12 team that is in the championship game and unless LSU stumbles, they'll be the other team and Oregon gets left out again.

For anyone who wants to see a playoff in College Football we need the polls to stay exactly as they are today and have Kansas win out. If Kansas wins out and that would mean beating #4 Oklahoma and #5 Missouri and does not make the BCS Championship game then the system should be blown up.

Tebow did have a huge day, but really what other Heisman candidates are there? McFadden has a tame 100+ game against the Vols. Ryan put up some numbers but his team stinks. Brennan is putting up his numbers against JV teams. how many games now has Hart missed now? White and Slaton seem to be handcuffed together. Dixon is the QB for one of the best teams in the country with good numbers.

"Congrats to Colt Brennan"? Did he throw another TD pass yesterday? When I watched the game late Saturday night, he had only TIED the record when he had his bell rung in the 4th quarter and was taken out.

The record is questionable... none of Ty Detmer's bowl game TDs counted towards his existing record. However, when the NCAA changed the "Rules" to allow bowl game stats, they failed to make that policy be retroactive. I'll allow that Brennan has accomplished the goal in many less games, but he hasn't done it yet. Based on the viscious hit that Brennan took on Saturday, I really wonder if he will be allowed to play next week. He obviously had a severe concussion. It will be interesting to see him clear the medical hoops to play again...

If the Jayhawks win out, they will be in the game and will have earned it. If they beat OU and Mizzou the computer will love them and the humans will finally wise up (maybe) and that will be enough to take one of the 2 spots.

The very thought Oregon not making the NC if they win out is sickening to my stomach...and actually if somehow Kansas jumps over Oregon and Dennis Dixon doesnt win the heisman(with only 1 loss) I may never watch college football again..

Where's the love for Virginia this week as well? Virginia handed Miami its worst shutout loss ever in the Orange Bowl, on the final game in the OB no less. All of the tributes this week, and all of the hype for the OB, and Virginia walks out with a 48 point win. Their game vs. Virginia Tech on Thanksgiving week-end is now for the Division championship, and the chance to play Clemson for the ACC Title.

I am sad that Ohio State lost on Saturday, but I'm pretty pleased that we could start a season with 15 new starters, lose all of last year's team, and still make it to the #1 spot this year. I actually thought we'd be about 9-2/ 8-3 right now. So I am happy. Illinois played the perfect game to upset the #1 team -- 1 penalty, 0 turnovers, and a good ground game that kept the ball out of Ohio State's hands. From here, winning out will still be very difficult. But, if we do, we'll still finish top 5, with 1 senior on the whole team. That September game at USC next year looms large!*disclaimer - I am a lifelong Buckeye fan, and a Virginia fan by marriage and location. I live in VA now, and have 'Hoos season tickets! I apologize for all appearance of impropriety or bandwagon jumping.

I have it:Kansas - beating all comers and doing it impressively. Showed balls vs Okie St.

Oregon - Impressive wins and only loss was fluky

LSU - The SEC is tough, no doubt. But it does appear down this year. LSU's 'toughest' opponents are 3-4 loss teams that aren't appearing impressive either. It may end up in the title game, but more due to other teams losing than its own ability

OklahomaMissouri

It is very, very possible that the B12 winner will jump into the title game. Kansas is already undefeated. If it beats top5 Mizzou and top5 Oklahoma...it HAS to be in. Same for Mizzou..beating Top5 Kansas and Top5 Oklahoma.

One of the guys on The Herd this past Friday called him the Tony Dungy of college football. I think that's pretty accurate.

For the rest of my homeritis this weekend, hooray for the Dawgs, hooray for the Cowboys and the Falcons, and boo for the Colts (someone needs to find out if Viniateri is takin' cash on the side from Belichick. Just kidding.).

You can't do anything but beat the teams on your schedule. If KU wins out, KU should be in there. Did they have a soft schedule this year? Yes, they missed both OU and Texas in the regular season. But this is a team that in the past 10 years hasn't won more than 7 games in a season. And for the next two years they have both Texas and OU on their schedule, so they'll have one of the tougher schedules in the country.. just like they did a couple years ago.

You can criticize their non-conference schedule, but it's not like they are an annual powerhouse. C Mich is the defending MAC champion and playing for it again this year. Toledo was the last game of a 2-1 deal. The other two are eh. If I remember correctly, I believe one of those games was a late throw in because the South Florida game was pushed back to next year. But personally I'd like to see them drop the 1-AA team and play at least 1 BCS conference team like they did a few years ago with Northwestern.

Either way, if they get in or left out, they've been fantastic this year and I'm just enjoying the ride!

Natsfan it isnt even Miami's last game in the OB. They play FIU there in two weeks I believe. It was just their last home game there. Still UVA whooped that trick on saturday. this has to be the worst season ever for people in Miami. The canes are more like the tropical depressions and the dolphins are on par with FIU.

I was impressed with the brownies yesterday. I really thought they would pull it out in the end.

The worst part of Rex grossman playing again is I have to hear my woman oohin and aahin about how hot he is. She is convinced that UF produces the hottest qb'. Shit she slurps tebow more than dan but I guess thats ok since she has tits right. Jen what is your opinion on this as a woman.

I don't post much here anymore, but I remember getting roasted by most of the regulars last year for sticking up for Favre. To reiterate - I've watched all but maybe 2 games of his Packer career. The only thing he can't do as well now as he did in 96 is throw the deep ball - he's very, very inconsistent now (accuracy) with that throw. Otherwise, the only difference is the players around him. Go Pack!

That said - we get just as tired as everybody else when the national media starts their Favre slobberfest. He's a top 5 QB. He'll be a top 5 QB until he retires. But lets leave it at that.

I'm not ready to crown Beasley just yet. I want to see him perform against a team that has some solid post people that can match his height to see how good he is. It's easier for a big guy to put up impressive stats, especially in the early part of a season when the competition isn't as good. He may be great, I'm just going to hold off judgement until I see how he does against better competition where he's not a few inches taller than everyone else on the other team.

Taylor vs Monk? Monk retired as the all time leading receiver. It is a travesty that he is not in the hall. He was a victim of bad timing since by the time he was eligible, Jerry Rice was destroying everything. Oh, plust Monk has rings. Taylor has been consistent, but at no time has he been the best. Taylor won't get into the hall if Tiki doesn't, and most feel Tiki is not hall worthy either.

Wow, 2 losses in a row for the Colts. I cannot help but think this was a "trap" game against the Chargers. The hangover from that 1st "L" of their season to the Pats was obviously in effect.

But I can't shake the feeling that, even if they scored a "W" last week versus New England, the Colts would have lost yesterday anyway. it was THAT kind of game. When any QB throws for 6 INTs, there's no winning that game. Surprisingly they did have a shot, but that might just be a testament to how well Manning handles adversity (even staring at 6 INTs on the day).

Yeah, that's why I said Clemson. BC will not win against Clemson next week-end. They're South Florida #2 -- start out hot, reach #2, then forget how to win football games. I can't wait until we meet up with Clemson in Jacksonville....

I don't know how a discussion of coach of the year can start with Zook. Mark Mangino's Kansas team has not lost yet. If they beat Mizzou and/or OU I think that seals the deal. I apologize to Oregon fans for not knowing the name of the coach there, but ESPN is finally showing them some love with some college gameday setups. They deserve it. If you watched the Indy/SD game, then you know what Rich Brooks is dealing with at Kentucky. To go 7-3 without your all-conference WR, TE, RB, S, plus the absence of a starting DE and CB is pretty impressive.

matt~ "Let's Go Browns"!!!? Are you serious? I still have chest pains over that second half performance of the most miserable defense in any league imaginable, including Pop Warner, etc. How can Roethlisberger, who runs like Frankenstein, have a 20 yd TD run? God, did the Browns give that game away. I am more pissed about that game than I am about the Buckeyes losing.

Dan, you are a complete power tool when it comes to Ohio State, so I am not going to even bother commenting on your stupidity. I'm surprised you don't have the Gators ranked above them.

Heroin- Rex Grossman is just that to me: GROSS-MAN. Ugh. Not hot whatsoever. Tom Brady is hotter. Eli Manning....HAHAHAHAHA I couldn't even type that without spitting my water out.

To plagiarize Dennis Green, Brett Favre is who we thought he was. You do realize you are talking about a 3-time MVP. I know some people don't like him because he speaks his mind, but you can not like him as a person and still respect his talent.

1) Ohio State did not lose at home to an unranked team. *Checks Shanoff's latest blogpoll ballot* They lost at home to the #15 team. You always do this ("Ohio State has beaten two #2 teams this year") and it always pisses me off.

2) Your ranking of Kansas at #1 is interesting. I'm sure you'd agree that if the season ended right now there's no way Kansas deserves to play in the MNC game over LSU, Oregon, WVU, Mizzou, Oklahoma, etc. However, if you put Kansas at #3 now, in three weeks if Kansas wins out and jumps to #1, you'd get the same idiots piping up who bitched about Michigan "losing its spot" at #2 without doing anything wrong. So putting Kansas #1 now heads those people off at the pass. I applaud your efforts.

3) For anyone looking to defend Charlie Weis, I offer the following counter. Ron Zook. I don't think anyone would argue Turner left Illinois in better shape than Willingham left ND, and yet look at the two programs now...

re: Zookhe has proven himself to be one hell of a recruiter (unlike Weis who seems to be a good recruiter). his main flaw was people thought he couldn't coach on game day (well at least at Florida). he was destined to fail there. he was following the golden boy of that program and the school (and fans) gave him a short leash. now that he's at a program where making a bowl game is a big year, he can relax and finally show everybody he's a good coach.

troy- How can you say Kansas doesn't deserve to play in the NC over Missouri and Oklahoma? The others I can see (except WVU), but not those two.

Missouri and KU have played similar conference schedules except for Missouri playing OU (a rivalry game every year). KU and MU are pretty even when you look at things. Missouri scores more but KU has a better defense. The game in KC is going to be fun and will probably be a shoot out.

OU lost to an average Colorado team and needed a late interception in the end zone to beat Iowa State, who happened to beat Colorado. On the road OU has not been impressive. Their non-conference schedule was also weak (North Texas, Utah St and Tulsa), outside of an awful Miami team.

Braun was listed first on 17 of 32 ballots, second on 14 and third on one for 128 points, based on the 5-3-1 tabulation system. Tulowitzki was first on 15 ballots and second on the other 17 for 126 points. The two-point differential was the closest in the NL since the current system was adopted in 1980.

I find all these arguments about who should play in the NCAA NC game silly. Imagine in the NFL if we just chose two teams to play in the SuperBowl? It would be ridiculous. There is a reason that every other sport from Little League up through pro sports has a playoff. Winning a NC in football means nothing since there is no playoff. A team can have a very good if not great season but how can any team ever know they were or are the best?

I would say the 9th place team in the BCS can't legitimately say they are #1.

I don't really think Ohio State will win out, but it provides an interesting finish. No matter what happens, 2 B12 schools lose again, moving OSU up to 5th. If, somehow, UGA beats LSU, and OK St., can beat OU, that puts Ohio State up to 3rd. I honestly think UCLA beats Oregon, leaving room in the Championship game.

I would be willing to bet that the championship game features 2 teams that do not play conference championship games. But, if it has a team that does, it will be from the B12.

I remind all of you that currently it would be Tennessee playing LSU in the SEC championship unless they lose to either Vandy or Kentucky, then LSU would play Georgia (provided Georgia wins this weekend). if the Vols play like they did on Saturday, they have a chance for the upset, but that's still asking a lot.

natsfan~ Your predictions sound good to me! If someone told me that Ohio State was going to be 10-0 going into this past Saturday's game, I would have asked what they were smoking. The #1 was nice while it lasted. Hey, it razzed Dan and got his panties all in a bunch, which in turn humors me.

Look at your numbers again. Whoever voted Kendrick second obviously voted for Tulo first because Tulo didn't finish worse than second on anyone's ballot. Braun had one third place vote. So someone voted Tulo/Kendrick/Braun. And you're right, they're an idiot.

First - Dan, I applaud you on not being more of a dick about OSU in today's post.

Second, Saturday sucked bigtime, except it's gonna be WAY easier for me to get tickets to watch Hart & Henne get some John Navarre-style redemption by finally beating OSU in their final attempt.Unfortunately, it's also gonna be less great, because Blue doesn't get to fuck up the Bucknuts' whole season for them - they took care of that already.......

with help from some creative reffing. What the FUCK happened with that first Illinois touchdown? I didn't even watch the game because my girlfriend deserved one Fall weekend away from a TV (and I wasn't really feeling football after my team finally played themselves all the way out of a game), but I saw a TV 50 feet away when I was at the bar that night, and I couldn't hear any audio, but seeing that fumble into the end zone, followed by Illinois scoring from the 3, made me go nuts.

Really, I couldn't have been further from the TV, and I didn't hear anybody talking about controversy, but I still could have made that call. Is there something I missed? What the Fuck?

@tbenderif by win out you mean Tennessee beats LSU in the championship, I believe it's an automatic BCS spot.

Hawaii would need to finish in the top 16 and be ranked higher than an automatic-qualifying champion (Tennessee, Michigan, or Cincinnati are the only options) OR be in the top 12 to get the at-large bid

Connect With Me

Quickish

About This Blog

DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.